Guest Commentary: Could the Holocaust happen again?

By John F. Floyd

Published: Sunday, July 18, 2010 at 6:01 a.m.

Last Modified: Friday, July 16, 2010 at 7:11 p.m.

I was watching the History Channel a few nights ago and the programming was a narrative about World War II. The channel was switching from the European/German campaign to the bloody battles raging with the Japanese on the islands of Iwo Jima and Leyte in the Pacific. Both of these campaigns resulted in thousands of casualties for the Americans, as well as the Germans and Japanese.

One narrative showed the Americans advancing at a fast pace in Germany, when all of a sudden the advance came to a dead stop. The reason for this sudden termination of the advancement was not German resistance, but a German village called Dachau. Upon entering this small German village, the advancing Americans came upon a sight they had never seen. There had been rumors of atrocities by the Germans in concentration camps, but what faced the Americans was reality, a reality so horrible, that even today it defies description. It was the German concentration camp called Dachau.

When American officers observed the gaunt, emaciated, starving and dying members of the human race, they called an immediate halt to the advancing U.S. forces and locked the gates to the prison. They immediately went into the German town of Dachau and made all town officials assemble at the concentration camp and witness the horrible conditions American troops had found.

Because of the town's proximity to the camp, this was not the first time the citizenry had seen the result of man's inhumanity to man, nor would it be the last. The television program then showed Dachau townspeople, at the American military's insistence, loading the dead onto vehicles and stacking the bodies like cordwood. German men were dressed in coats and ties and the women looked like they were going to the theater.

The American officers did the right thing in making the Germans a part of extraordinary remediation measures taken at Dachau.

The reason this part of the television documentary hit home was because my wife, Connie, and I visited the Dachau concentration camp in 1980.

It was a very pleasant German day and I remember thinking how close the camp was to the village. I was not prepared mentally for what I was about to see.

Connie and I walked where so many people of the Jewish faith, gypsies, Ukrainians, homosexuals and anyone else the German Third Reich decided was unfit to live had walked to certain death.

Paths led to the gas chambers where the Jewish population was told they were going to the showers to be de-loused, but the showerheads spewed poison gas.

A footpath led to the hanging room where men, women and children took their last steps.

Most horrible of all were the ovens, and I will never forget them and the smell that was forever engrained into my senses — all stark reminders of man's inhumanity to man.

Connie was at Dachau in 1956 and she said many awful reminders of the Holocaust no longer were there, such as lampshades made of human skin, walking canes made of the femurs from the dead, mountains of shoes that belonged to victims of the Germans and piles of teeth from which the gold had been extracted.

Being exposed to these surroundings and the atrocities they witnessed is a life-changing experience and will never escape one's memory.

Knowing of the many inhumane atrocities that occurred at Dachau and other Nazi concentration camps, such as Auschwitz, you wonder how it ever got to this point. Adolf Hitler, a charismatic orator and thug, and his barbaric henchman Heinrich Himmler, former chicken farmer, were responsible for the deaths of 3 million people in the camps, and obviously they had to have willing help.

Hitler and Himmler paid special attention to the Jews, with the objective of eliminating all of them from Germany. What many people fail to realize is this is one goal Hitler achieved. Today, there are only 3,000 people of the Jewish faith living in Germany, out of a population of 80 million.

When I think about what happened in Germany with Hitler's ascension to power, the war he started that cost the world so many lives, the twisting of the minds of an entire nation, I wonder if it can happen again and where. Then I realize it is happening today with nations like Zimbabwe, Venezuela and North Korea.

The present political environment of Venezuela should strike fear in the hearts of all nations who love peace. Venezuela was a relatively stable, democratic country until Hugo Chavez was elected president, and he began nationalizing the country's infrastructure and putting under military control any opposition to his government.

Chavez took control of the national press. He basically achieved his nationalization goal by “fiat,” or presidential decree. There exists today in Venezuela a dictatorship that exercises the tactics Hitler used in the subjugation of the German people, and it's happened in the Southern Hemisphere of the Americas, our backyard.

We also have Cuba, but it was never a threat to the United States, especially after John F. Kennedy backed down the Russians and their plans to locate ballistic missiles in Cuba.

I previously asked the question, “Could the German Holocaust take place again, and where?” Maybe the question should be more closely defined. Could it happen in the United States and how, by who?

Has the process already started? Think about it.

John F. Floyd is a Gadsden native who graduated from Gadsden High School in 1954. He worked many years for Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. and also for General Tire & Rubber Co. and Chrysler Corp. He can be reached at cteau@aol.com.

<p>I was watching the History Channel a few nights ago and the programming was a narrative about World War II. The channel was switching from the European/German campaign to the bloody battles raging with the Japanese on the islands of Iwo Jima and Leyte in the Pacific. Both of these campaigns resulted in thousands of casualties for the Americans, as well as the Germans and Japanese. </p><p>One narrative showed the Americans advancing at a fast pace in Germany, when all of a sudden the advance came to a dead stop. The reason for this sudden termination of the advancement was not German resistance, but a German village called Dachau. Upon entering this small German village, the advancing Americans came upon a sight they had never seen. There had been rumors of atrocities by the Germans in concentration camps, but what faced the Americans was reality, a reality so horrible, that even today it defies description. It was the German concentration camp called Dachau. </p><p>When American officers observed the gaunt, emaciated, starving and dying members of the human race, they called an immediate halt to the advancing U.S. forces and locked the gates to the prison. They immediately went into the German town of Dachau and made all town officials assemble at the concentration camp and witness the horrible conditions American troops had found. </p><p>Because of the town's proximity to the camp, this was not the first time the citizenry had seen the result of man's inhumanity to man, nor would it be the last. The television program then showed Dachau townspeople, at the American military's insistence, loading the dead onto vehicles and stacking the bodies like cordwood. German men were dressed in coats and ties and the women looked like they were going to the theater.</p><p>The American officers did the right thing in making the Germans a part of extraordinary remediation measures taken at Dachau. </p><p>The reason this part of the television documentary hit home was because my wife, Connie, and I visited the Dachau concentration camp in 1980.</p><p>It was a very pleasant German day and I remember thinking how close the camp was to the village. I was not prepared mentally for what I was about to see.</p><p>Connie and I walked where so many people of the Jewish faith, gypsies, Ukrainians, homosexuals and anyone else the German Third Reich decided was unfit to live had walked to certain death.</p><p>Paths led to the gas chambers where the Jewish population was told they were going to the showers to be de-loused, but the showerheads spewed poison gas. </p><p>A footpath led to the hanging room where men, women and children took their last steps.</p><p>Most horrible of all were the ovens, and I will never forget them and the smell that was forever engrained into my senses — all stark reminders of man's inhumanity to man.</p><p>Connie was at Dachau in 1956 and she said many awful reminders of the Holocaust no longer were there, such as lampshades made of human skin, walking canes made of the femurs from the dead, mountains of shoes that belonged to victims of the Germans and piles of teeth from which the gold had been extracted. </p><p>Being exposed to these surroundings and the atrocities they witnessed is a life-changing experience and will never escape one's memory.</p><p>Knowing of the many inhumane atrocities that occurred at Dachau and other Nazi concentration camps, such as Auschwitz, you wonder how it ever got to this point. Adolf Hitler, a charismatic orator and thug, and his barbaric henchman Heinrich Himmler, former chicken farmer, were responsible for the deaths of 3 million people in the camps, and obviously they had to have willing help. </p><p>Hitler and Himmler paid special attention to the Jews, with the objective of eliminating all of them from Germany. What many people fail to realize is this is one goal Hitler achieved. Today, there are only 3,000 people of the Jewish faith living in Germany, out of a population of 80 million. </p><p>When I think about what happened in Germany with Hitler's ascension to power, the war he started that cost the world so many lives, the twisting of the minds of an entire nation, I wonder if it can happen again and where. Then I realize it is happening today with nations like Zimbabwe, Venezuela and North Korea. </p><p>The present political environment of Venezuela should strike fear in the hearts of all nations who love peace. Venezuela was a relatively stable, democratic country until Hugo Chavez was elected president, and he began nationalizing the country's infrastructure and putting under military control any opposition to his government.</p><p>Chavez took control of the national press. He basically achieved his nationalization goal by “fiat,” or presidential decree. There exists today in Venezuela a dictatorship that exercises the tactics Hitler used in the subjugation of the German people, and it's happened in the Southern Hemisphere of the Americas, our backyard. </p><p>We also have Cuba, but it was never a threat to the United States, especially after John F. Kennedy backed down the Russians and their plans to locate ballistic missiles in Cuba. </p><p>I previously asked the question, “Could the German Holocaust take place again, and where?” Maybe the question should be more closely defined. Could it happen in the United States and how, by who? </p><p>Has the process already started? Think about it.</p>
<p class="italic font120">John F. Floyd is a Gadsden native who graduated from Gadsden High School in 1954. He worked many years for Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. and also for General Tire & Rubber Co. and Chrysler Corp. He can be reached at cteau@aol.com.</p>